RAF Ferry Command was the secretive Royal Air Force command formed on 20 July 1941 to ferry urgently needed aircraft from their place of manufacture in the United States and Canada, to the front line operational units in Britain, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the Second World War.

Previously, aircraft had been assembled, dismantled and then transported by ship across the Atlantic, and were subject to long delays and frequent attacks by German U-Boats.

Former RAF officer Don Bennett, a specialist in long distance flying and later Air Vice Marshal and commander of the Pathfinder force, led the first test delivery formation flight in November 1940.

[1] The mission was so successful that by 1941, MAP took the operation out of the hands of CPR to put it under the Atlantic Ferry Organization ("Atfero") which was set up by Morris W. Wilson, a banker in Montreal.

"Atfero hired the pilots, planned the routes, selected the airports [and] set up weather and radiocommunication stations.

"[2][3] Aircraft were first transported to Dorval Airport near Montreal, and then flown to RCAF Station Gander in Newfoundland for the trans-Atlantic flight.

Before Ferry Command, only about a hundred aircraft had attempted a North Atlantic crossing in good weather, and only about half had made it.

The squadron's Coronado flying boats operated between North America, West Africa and the UK, using Largs on the Firth of Clyde as its British terminal.

[1] Above and Beyond (2006), a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) four-hour mini-series, was inspired by the true story of RAF Ferry Command, recounting the delivery of aircraft across the North Atlantic to the Royal Air Force.